


Promises Broken and Kept

by zinke



Category: Battlestar Galactica (2003)
Genre: Angst, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-12-03
Updated: 2008-12-03
Packaged: 2018-09-17 06:04:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,170
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9308609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zinke/pseuds/zinke
Summary: Sometimes the only way to keep a promise is to break it.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted to survivalinstinct.net on December 7, 2008.
> 
> After much deliberation, I have decided to label this an AU fic even though one could argue that the events are borne from and fit within existing canon – or more accurately, existing chamalla-and-jump-induced-vision canon. 
> 
> This story was written for nnaylime who mentioned wanting – though she doubted that the universe would provide – an A/R fic where Bill discovers that Lee and Kara are frakking. And while this isn’t exactly the fic she wished for, I hope she enjoys it all the same and accepts it as a token of my thanks for the beta, the banner, the header… and for simply being her generous, fabulous self. 
> 
> Many thanks to chaila43 who did a bang-up job (yes, you did!) of pinch beta-reading for me so this fic could be the surprise it was intended to be, and to caz963 whose suggestions and support were, as always, invaluable.

“Long-range scouts have all come home and report no unusual activity in any of the surrounding star systems. For the time being, it looks like we’ve caught a bit of a break.”

“Maintain the current reconnaissance plan and schedule for now, and keep me informed.”

“Yes, sir.” Kara hesitates for only a moment before adding speculatively, “I’ll see you later in CIC for transfer of the watch?”

“No. Helo’s going to be covering my shift for me.”

Taking a step forward, she asks cautiously, “Admiral, is there anything—”

“No. That’ll be all, Captain.”

Squaring her shoulders she gives him a crisp salute and tries her best to hide her disappointment. “Very good, sir. Goodnight.” 

“Goodnight,” Adama mumbles, his attention already focused on a report spread open on the desk before him. 

Kara takes her time making her way out of his quarters, taking note of the trio of rumpled uniform jackets draped haphazardly across the back of a chair, the pile of books standing lonely sentinel in the middle of the room – and the collection of spent drinking glasses, lined up with military precision on the table by the hatch. 

Once she’s stepped outside, Kara pulls the door shut behind her and leans back against the cool metal, closing her eyes as she releases a defeated sigh. 

“Kara?” 

Slowly she lifts her lids and offers Lee a weak smile. “Asking you to come over here may not have been one of my better ideas. I don’t think you’re going to get very far.” 

“See that’s the difference between you and me; I’m a glass half-full kind of guy.”

“In this case, I’m not even sure there’s a glass to fill.”

“You tried talking to him?”

“Kind of. I guess I’d been hoping…”

“What?”

“That he’d decide to talk to me before I had to resort to sending you in there to bully it out of him,” she confesses sheepishly. “Crazy, right?”

“If you’re looking for me to contradict you on that,” he replies with a half-hearted grin, “you’re going to have to wait a long time.”

Kara offers him a similarly weak smile in return which falls from her lips as quickly as it had come. When she next speaks, her tone of voice is anything but playful. “He’s going through this alone, Lee. And he doesn’t have to.” 

“I don’t think Dad sees it that way.”

“You have to make him see it that way.” 

Lee can’t help but chuckle bitterly at her words. “Since when have I had the power to make him do anything?”

“You can try.”

Lee raises his eyes to meet hers. “I can try.” The two continue to regard one another silently, their expressions a mixture of uncertainty and sorrow, until finally Kara pushes herself away from the door and starts to climb the stairs to the main corridor. 

She pauses beside him on the top step, turning her head only slightly before she murmurs, “What he’s doing, it’s killing him Lee. Roslin would never have wanted that.”

Lee swallows thickly. “I know.”

Kara gives no outward sign that’s she heard him as she slips past him into the main corridor and disappears around the corner. Lee watches her retreating figure for as long as he’s able, then makes his way to the hatch and raps his knuckles sharply against the cold metallic surface. 

He knocks again and when he continues to hear nothing in response, Lee pulls open the door and steps inside, careful to shut the hatch securely behind him. “Dad?”

A faint rustle of fabric accompanied by a muted thud draws Lee forward into the bunk room, where he finds his father hunkered down in front of his desk, pouring over a stack of books on the floor. Bill spares him nothing more than a passing, irritated glance before returning his attention to the task at hand, quietly reciting each title to himself as his fingers brush over every spine with something akin to reverence.

The silence between them drags on, growing more and more uncomfortable; until finally – like so many times before – Lee gives in. “Kara’s worried, Dad. And so am I.”

Bill remains silent as his fingers come to rest on a green, leather-bound volume and with a satisfied nod he pulls it carefully from the middle of the pile. Rising stiffly from his crouch, he skims his palm across the cover before finally turning and meeting his son’s eyes. “I spoke with Cottle about an hour ago. Laura had a good night and her vital signs are stable this morning.”

Lee shakes his head. “About you.”

Bill drops his gaze, then slowly makes his way around to the far side of the desk. “I’m fine.” 

“No, you’re not,” Lee counters. “Don’t take this the wrong way but you look terrible. You need to take care of yourself.” 

“I am.”

“Kara says you’re not eating, not sleeping, you haven’t attended a flight readiness review in over a week—”

“You’ve got Starbuck spying on me?”

“Does it matter? You’re spending every free minute you have in sickbay, and I know you think it’s making a difference but even you have to realize that—”

“No.”

“The cancer’s metastasized to her brain, Dad. Even Cottle says—” 

“This conversation is over,” Bill growls as he pushes past his son and strides determinedly into the next room. 

Lee follows close behind, watching with mounting concern as Bill collects his reading glasses from a side table by the couch, switches off the lamp and heads resolutely for the hatch.

“How can you be sure she even knows you’re there?”

Bill comes to an abrupt halt and sighs before bowing his head in resignation “Laura knows,” he insists quietly, his grip visibly tightening on the slim volume in his hand.

“Dad—”

“She knows!” Bill exclaims with a snarl, wheeling around to glare at Lee with an open, desperate hostility that dissipates a quickly as it had come, only to be supplanted by an expression of profound sorrow. “She has to.” 

“I know how hard this must be for you, Dad, I do. But The Pres— Laura,” he amends hastily, “is dying, and somehow you’re going to have to find a way to move on. It’s what she’d want.” 

Bill studies his son for several moments before replying sourly, “If Kara asked, would you be able to do it?”

Lee’s eyes snap up to meet Bill’s and the perceptive glint he sees in his father’s eyes only confirms what his question has implied. As his initial shock slips away, however, Lee finds himself strangely relieved by the revelation, and in that moment his answer becomes clear. His lips curl into a wry grin as he raises his hands in a gesture of defeat. “No.”

Bill simply nods and weakly returns his son’s smile. “Sometimes the only way to keep a promise is to break it,” he murmurs softly, offering Lee a sympathetic glance before turning and pushing open the hatch. 

This time, Lee lets him go. 

 

*fin.*


End file.
